


When One Door Closes

by Leftwing78



Category: Bomb Girls
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, feelings declarations, flustered Betty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:15:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26689531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leftwing78/pseuds/Leftwing78
Summary: Betty offers Kate some comfort after her father leaves the boarding house, leading Kate to realize just exactly what Betty means to her.
Relationships: Kate Andrews/Betty McRae
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	When One Door Closes

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all,
> 
> Dusted off some Bomb Girls fics that I found on my old LiveJournal(!), and thought I'd post some of them. This one takes place in episode six of season one. 
> 
> I don't own these characters, but I love them.

When One Door Closes...

Betty watched as Kate closed the door to the bedroom once her father walked out, making sure to lock it, so they wouldn’t have to worry about anymore visits from the fine preacher that night. She walked over to her friend, who was standing, still staring at the door, with her wet hair dripping onto her bathrobe.

“Hey,” Betty said gently, trying to bring Kate back to her, “Kate, you’re okay. He’s gone.”

Kate’s eyes welled up, as she threw herself into Betty’s arms. Betty awkwardly returned the embrace at first, though she hugged her friend tighter as she felt how cold her body was, rubbing her hands up and down her back, trying to generate some warmth.

“Thank you,” she said, the words muffled by Betty’s jacket, “Thank you for making him leave.”

“Well,” Betty said, and she pulled back, still holding onto Kate’s arms, “seems like you were holding your own before I even got here.”

Kate shook her head, wiping her nose with her hand, “No…well, I was, for the moment,” she briefly smiled as she realized she deserved some credit herself. Leave it to Betty to help her see that. “But, he would have kept on me, if you hadn’t come…my hero, as always,” she said with a semi-bashful smile.

“Aw, that’s…nah I’m just your friend, Kate. That’s what friends do.” Betty was looking at her shoe, and doing her best not to blush tremendously (but she found she had little control over that). She thought maybe if she said the word “friend” enough, it would trick her brain into thinking that was all Kate was to her. No such luck. Her brain immediately reminded her that this wasn’t the case, as she looked back up at the beautiful woman in front of her, who she now noticed was starting to shiver.

“Hey there, you’re freezing, why don’t you go put on something warm, and then we can see about drying that hair.” Betty turned around as Kate got dressed, trying to find something interesting enough on the blank wall in front of her to keep her imagination off the scene behind her. ‘Give it a rest!’ she thought to herself, ‘Kate needs someone to comfort her, not someone who is imagining how much they’d like to ogle her, in the midst of all this. Fine friend you are.’ Betty worked to again, at least temporarily, shove those feelings back down. She almost jumped a foot when Kate touched her shoulder, as caught up in her thoughts as she was.

“Sorry!” Kate looked at her, wide-eyed, “Penny for your thoughts?”

Betty smiled, “Just that you better hand me that towel and let me help you out with your hair, before you catch your death of cold.”

Kate sat on the bed, with Betty knelt behind her, gently squeezing the water from Kate’s long tresses with the (surprisingly) soft boarding house towel. Kate closed her eyes, relaxing as Betty softly moved her hair around, and then brushed it for her, drying it as much as possible. Kate could feel the warmth from Betty’s body behind her, and even from her hands as they brushed past her temple. She felt so safe, and so cared for. Without thinking, Kate leaned back into Betty, resting her head on Betty’s shoulder.

Betty froze, as her heart leapt out of her body and settled somewhere on the ceiling. She was terrified, elated, terrified, both, and everything all at once. What was Kate doing? And why? And what was she supposed to do in response? Kate couldn’t possibly mean anything by this. Not anything special about Betty. Betty just happened to be there. That was all. She was the one who was there for Kate to lean against. 

Betty’s thoughts were stopped cold as Kate sighed, and sunk into her a little bit more. 

Betty brushed her hand down Kate’s arm, tangling their fingers together and she wrapped her arm around Kate’s waist. She slowly brought her other arm around, and maneuvered herself so that Kate’s back was fully pressed against her. She was afraid to say anything, and break the spell they were under. Kate as well, never wanted this moment to end. After seeing her father, and hearing all of his hateful words, designed to send her running in fear back to him…just to know that Betty was here now made her feel that everything was okay. This was her life, the life she wanted.

“Why are you so kind to me, Betty?” Kate asked softly. She could feel Betty’s breath on her cheek, as she turned slightly to look at her.

“Because you deserve it,” Betty whispered, having picked that out of the various responses that had swirled in her head immediately after Kate asked the question. 

Kate turned to Betty and smiled, but it fell away quickly. “My father wouldn’t say so.”

“Kate, you listen to me,” Betty said, managing to sound authoritative and soft at the same time, “He’s wrong.” She paused. “I know he’s been telling you a lot of things for years, about you, and about sin, and about…what you need to do so you’re a good person,” She hugged her tighter at this, and moved so close that Kate could feel her lips moving against her cheek as she continued to talk. “And I know I haven’t known you for that long, but, please, please believe me when I tell you-- you are good, Kate. I see you, just the way you are, and I—I’m lucky to have you in my life. Anyone who knows you is lucky. You have to believe me Kate.” 

“I do, I just...it helps to hear it,” the other girl whispered, her voice cracking as she started to cry at Betty’s words. Betty could taste Kate’s tears, and turned and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“Can we just go to sleep?” Kate asked, still whispering, “and can…will you stay with me tonight? Sleep here? I think I’ll have nightmares if you don’t. Oh-- I mean, don’t feel obligated Betty, I’m sure I’d be fine if—“

“Shh, relax,” Betty said, laughing softly at Kate’s distress over the idea that she was playing on Betty’s sympathies to make her do something she didn’t want to, “Of course I’ll stay with you, just let me go wash up, I’ll be right back, all right?” Kate squeezed Betty’s hand briefly, before letting her go. 

****

Betty had never gone through her nighttime routine so quickly, and dashed back to Kate’s room as soon as humanly possible (all appearance of her usual swagger gone for the moment). She found the girl sitting on her bed, under the covers, chewing on her bottom lip, and looking contemplative. During the few moments when Betty was gone, Kate found that she wasn’t so much afraid to be alone (though she was that, a bit, too) as just wanting to be with Betty. This wasn’t new, this feeling, but something about tonight, about facing her father, standing up to him, and having Betty then come in and back her up, helping to send her father packing and reminding her of how wrong he was about her, that brought this feeling into clearer focus than it had ever been before. The short time alone, waiting for Betty, had given Kate the few moments she needed to truly understand what it all meant. 

As they settled into bed, Kate rolled over and snuggled close to Betty, with her head on Betty’s shoulder, and arm around her waist. Betty willed herself to stay calm, to try to go to sleep, and to remember that Kate saw her as just a friend, so that’s all she was. Why Kate had now corralled her right arm, and was drawing patterns on it with her fingers, Betty couldn’t quite say.  
“Feeling better?” Betty asked, smiling at her seemingly content friend.

Kate sighed, breathing out an, “Always with you, Betty.” She then paused briefly, before saying, “Betty, when we’re together, I feel…just, happy. And safe, and connected to the world in a way I never have before. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve changed so much since coming to Toronto, or…or all the new experiences I’ve had, but being with you is different than anything I’ve felt before. “

Terrified, elated. Terrified, elated. ‘What is happening?’ Betty thought. She couldn’t have made her mouth spit out words even if she’d been able to think of any. Kate continued talking, anyway.

“Betty, when I’m with you, I feel loved.” Kate felt Betty’s entire body tense underneath her as she said this, and she pulled back, propping her head on her hand, so she could see Betty’s face. “Don’t be afraid of it, Betty.”

Terrified. “Kate, I-I don’t know what—“ she was going to say she didn’t know what she was talking about, but then, couldn’t lie to the girl. For whatever reason, Kate was the one person Betty was willing to let see her as vulnerable. So, she didn’t try to deny it, but simply voiced some of her real fears. “Kate…you don’t know what you’re saying. Other people—“

“I don’t care about other people. I told you once before, it’s only the ones that matter that have to like you.”

“But your father—“

“Oh, Betty, he’s gone!” she said, managing to sound emphatic without even raising her voice, “He’s gone, and his words…don’t have the power over me they once did. I told you, I just need to be reminded of that sometimes. His wasn’t the only voice I heard growing up, you know. I had others, others who taught me that I could have my own life. And here I am, with you. I’m not afraid of it, Betty, and I’m not afraid to say it.” Kate took her free hand, and brushed it against Betty’s cheek, “I love you.”

Betty had been all prepared to insist that she wasn’t afraid of anything either, she was Betty McRae, and damned if she’d be afraid, sitting in her pajamas in some little boarding house, when she wasn’t afraid of bombs or German soldiers or rats or anything else, thank you very much(!) but then Kate had added those last three words, and she couldn’t think of anything but them.  
“You do?” she asked, as Kate nodded, smiling. And, as tears started to roll down her face, much to her absolute embarrassment (‘Who cries when they’re happy?’), she managed to choke out, “I love you, too, Kate.”

“Betty, you don’t need to cry.”

“I’m trying to stop, believe me,” Betty said, letting out a short laugh, “It’s just…”she looked off to the side, and then back at Kate, “no one has ever said that to me before. And…to have you say it…it’s just…you’re the one I’ve wanted to hear it from. But I wasn’t sure it would ever happen.”

“Well, it happened,” Kate said, still smiling, and wiping the tears from Betty’s face. She then traced her thumb across Betty’s bottom lip, before leaning down and kissing her, softly and sweetly.

Betty thought she might faint, and she’d never done such a thing before. Deciding she was not going to lose consciousness as the girl of her dreams was kissing her, she instead reached up and tucked a lock of Kate’s hair behind her ear, and kissed her back with all she was worth.

It was a short kiss, all said and done, but full of so much meaning that neither one of them was bothered by that fact.

“You know things aren’t going to be easy, with this,” said Betty, nodding between them.

“I know, but that doesn’t matter to me. I have everything I want right here. Whether anyone else knows it or not.”

As Kate said this, she settled back down on Betty’s shoulder, suddenly exhausted, and asked, “Is it all right if we go to sleep?”

Betty turned out the light and said, “I’m not sure what more I could ask for out of this day, sweetheart.” Betty kissed Kate’s forehead, before whispering, “Good night,”

“Good night, Betty.”

And just before she drifted off to sleep, Kate heard Betty mutter, “Oh, and by the way, the princess knows about us already, and we don’t have to worry about her.”

End


End file.
